Type-writer construction.



PATENTED OCT. 16, 1906.

J. ALEXANDER. TYPE WRITER CONSTRUCTION.

APPLICATION FILED we. 2, 19oz. RENEWED 213.21. 1906.

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TYPE WRITER CONSTRUCTION.

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PATENTED OCT. 16, 1906.

J. ALEXANDER. TYPE WRITER CONSTRUCTION. APPLICATION FILED 15116.2, 1902. RENEWED FEB. 21. 1906.

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No. 833,283. PATENTED OCT. 16, 1906. J. ALEXANDER. TYPE WRITER CONSTRUCTION.

.AIIPLIOA'IIIGI YILED AUG. 2, 1802. RENEWED FEB. 27. 1906.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. JEssE ALEXANDER, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK, ASSlIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, or ONE-HALF TO ARTHUR LETTS, or LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, AND ONE-HALF TO LEE ALEXANDER, KITTIE ALEXANDER, JR, JESSE ALEXANDER, JR, AND TYVE ALEXANDER.

TYPE-WRITER CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 16, 1906.

Application filed August 2. 1902- Renewed February 27, 1906. Serial No. 303,203.

To a, whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, JEssE ALEXANDER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Brooklyn, in the county of Kings, State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Type-Writer Constructions, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to type-writing machines, and particularly to the carriage construction and mechanism for shifting the platen.

The object of my invention is to simplify the construction of the mechanism necessary for the operation of the carriage of a t ewriting machine, making the arts re d ily accessible to the operator, an to im rove the construction of the carriage and p atenshifting mechanism so that the operation of the machine shall be easy and efficient.

The construction will be found to be durable and to facilitate the operation of the machine. It is so arranged as to be readily taken apart and adjusted when necessary.

The improvements are particularly ada ted to use with a machine of the so-cal ed visible-writing type, in which the line of print occurs in a position to be read at the time of writing.

The invention consists in the improvements hereinafter to be described and as shown in the accompanying drawings, which embody one form and arrangement of my im rovements.

t will be obvious to one skilled in the type-writer art that many alterations and adjustments may be efiected without departing from the general scope and plan of my invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a plan view of a typewriting machine embodying the improvements of this invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view of a platen and the parts immediately adjacent thereto. Fig. 3 is a plan view of framework constituting a part of the carriage on which the mechanism of Fig. 2 is to be mounted. Fig. 4 is a horizontal rojection of the arts shown in Fig. 2 loo g upward from eneath. Fig. 5 is an elevation of the right-hand end of the parts shown in Fig. 2, the right-hand knob or handle of the platen being removed. Fig. 6 is a plan view of the carriage-supporting track and the escapements. Fig. 7 is an elevation of the right-hand end of a portion of the parts shown in Fi 2 looking to the right, the platen-shaft icing in section. Fig. 8 is a view, partly in section and partly in elevation, of a detail. Fig. 9 is an elevation of the right-hand end of the carriage and supporting-frame in place on a fragment of the machine. Fig. 10 is a side elevation, partly in section, of mechanism embodying portions of the carriage mechanism. Fig. 11 is a side elevation of part of the platen-shifting mechanlsrn.

The pa er may be guided to and inserted in place about the platen 1 of the machine in any desirable and convenient manner, there being suitable guides, rollers, &c., for the same, as is customary in machines of this general character.

The shaft 10 of the platen is pivoted in tilting plates 2 2 at opposite ends and provided with suitable knobs or handles 11 11. These lates which for convenience in description I ave designated as tilting plates are pivoted at 20 to the platen-frames 3 3, which in their turn at 30 are pivoted to the carriageframes 4 4. The platen-frames are connected together by the rod 122, which furnishes support for parts of the line-spacing and also of the paper-feeding mechanism. A suitable line-spacing mechanism is provided, which is, however, claimed in my application, Serial No. 141,671, filed February 3 1903.

The tiltin plate is provided with a projecting shou der 21 for engagement with the upper portion of the platen-frame 3, as will hereinafter more fully be described. At 22 the lower part of the tilting plate may be provided a shaft on which are suitable guide or pressure rollers. The platen-frames 3 3 are extended downward below the platen and united by means of a rod 31, to which is at tached near the central portion a guide-Wheel 32, by means of which the platen is shifted from the lower to the upper case position. It will thus be seen that this machine is of the two-case or single-shift type of machine. This operation of shifting from one case to the other will be more fully described hereinafter. The tilting plate is preferably attached to a projection 33 of the platen-frame 3.. In this manner by slotting the side frames 3 3, as shown in Fig. 5, it is possible to effect a forward or backward adjustment of the position of the platen by means of adjustingscrews 34.

The carriage in its normal fposition in the lower case is provided with a ront guide-rail 41 and a rear guide-rail 42. The front guiderail 41 is carried by the carriage-frames 4 4 and operates between the rollers 43 and 44, as shown particularly in Figs. 6 and 10. These rollers 43 and 44 are carried by the frame of the machine. The rear guide-rail 42 is carried by the supports 431 431, which. are provided with the plates 440, extending above the body of the machine and toward the center. These plates 440 are slotted, one end of the slots being enlarged to provide for attaching the supports in an adjustable manner, so that they may be made when desired to accommodate a guiderail of a greater or less length. The screws 45 bear against the upper surface of the plates 440 and take into the frame of the machine. The supporting-plates 440 do not extend quite to the center of the machine, a space being left for part of the escapement mechanism which controls the feeding movement of the carriage. These parts are claimed in my application, Serial No. 141,672 filed February 3, 1903. It is sufficient to say that the rod 50, carrying the toothed rack 5 and having the handle 52, is pivoted in the carriage-frame 4 and is held by the spring 5 in its operative position. Near the rear the carriage-frames are connected by the rod 520, on which the carriage-stops 528 slide.

The connection between the carriageframes 4 4 and the rear rail 42 is made by means of a sleeve 46, which is more particularly shown in Figs. 8 and 10. This sleeve is attached to the rear rod 47, which connects the frames 4 4 by means of a thumb-screw 460. arms 461, having rollers 462 carried at their ends. These rollers are adapted to press against the upper corner of the guide-rail 42. This pressure may be varied or adjusted as desired to give greater or less freedom of movement to the carriage by means of the screws 463, which act in the sleeve 46 and bear against the arm 461. For purposes of assembling the parts and takin them down when desired or necessary I prefer to provide holes in the bar 47 for access to the screws 463 and adjustment. As shown in Fig. 10, the intermediate portion 464 may be provided between the bar 47 and the sleeve 46. These parts may be attached together by means of the screws 465. I have thus provided an easy manner in which access may be had to the rollers 462 for the purposes of cleaning or renewing the same, as desired.

As before mentioned, this machine is of the Inside of this sleeve are pivoted the' single-shift type, in which a portion of the letters are printed in upper case and a part in lower case. As shown in Fig. 10 the parts are in the lower-case position. To bring them into operation in the upper-case position, the platen is raised to a suitable angle. This is accomplished by means of the auxiliary lifting-rail 7, as seen particularly in Figs. 6 and 11. This rail is carried by arms pivoted at 70. For the purpose of throwing these parts into operation I have provided the shift-keys 71 and 72 at the left and right of the machine, respectively. Each of these is connected by a similar linkage 74 to corresponding pivoted levels 73 at the left and right of the machine. Each of the levers 73 is provided with a pin 75, adapted to engage with an arm of the rail 7, so that when either one of the shift-key bars is depressed the platen is raised by means of the rail 7, lifting the wheel 32 and wheel-supporting rod 31, which is secured at the under side of the platen-frame 3, as shown in Fig. 4. When the right-hand shift-key 72 is depressed, a spring-pressed locking-arm 76 is thrown into engagement with a notched portion of the link 74, so that the platen is held in the upper-case position. This locking-arm 76 is mounted upon a shaft 77, at the other end of which is carried a release-arm 78, which projects beneath the key 71. When, therefore, it is desired to release the platen from the upper-case position, the key-b ar 71 is depressed and engaging with the release-arm 78 throws the locking-arm 76 to the position shown in Fig. 11 and leaves the platen to return to its lower-case position. It is obvious that when the writer is desirous of making but a single impression in the upper case of type the lefthand key-bar 71 may be depressed, and the platen will then be shifted to upper case and held there only so long as the key 71 is held in the depressed position.

In order that the platen in the upper-case position may bear the same position relatively to the upper-case type as the platen does when in the lower-case position to the lower-case type, I have provided, as before mentioned, that the platen shall be carried at each end by a tilting plate 2, pivoted at 20 to the carriage-frame 3, which latter is operated by means of the auxiliary lifting-rail 7. The shaft 10 normally rests on the bottom of the notch 400 in the carriage-frame 4. When the platen-shifting mechanism is operated, the frame 3 pivots about the point 30. This releases the shaft 10 from the notch 400, and the plate 2 tilts forward and downward until the lower end strikes against the lower front end of the platen-frame 3. The upward movement of the frame 3 about the pivot 30 continues until the shaft 10 strikes against the stop 401 of the carriage-frame 4. It will thus be seen that whereas when the carriageframes 3 are moved to the upper-case position the platen is moved on the arc of a circle about the center 30 at the same time the platen-shaft and platen are moved on the arc of the circle of much smaller radius about the center 20 in the opposite direction. This double rotative movement tends to correct any variation inthe form and regularity of imprint which might otherwise occur as a consequence of shifting from lower to upper case.

What I claim is- 1. A type-writer carriage mechanism including carriage side frames, platen side frames pivoted to said carriage-frames at the rear, tilting plates pivoted to said platenframes, a platen-shaft rotatably carried by said tilting plates, and means for lifting the platen-frames and tilting the plates forward at the same time.

2. A type-writer carriage mechanism including carriage side frames, a bar connecting them at the rear, platen side frames pivoted to said carriage-frames at the rear, a bar connecting the carriage-frames near the front, a rod connecting the laten-frames near the front, tilting plates pivoted to said platen-frames, a platen-shaft rotatably carried by said tilting plates, and means for lifting the platen-frames and tilting the plates forward at the same time.

' 3. A type-writer carriage construction including carriage side frames, platen side frames pivoted thereto, tilting plates pivotally carried by said platen-frames, a platenshaft rotatably carried by said tilting plates and normally supported by the carriageframes, means for shifting the platen-frames upwardly at which time the plates tilt forwardly, and the platen-shaft strikes against another portion of the carriageframes and the tilting plates abut against the platenframes.

4. A type-writer carriage construction including carriage side frames, a bar connecting them at the rear, a bar connecting them at the front, supporting guides therefor, platen-frames pivoted to said carriage-frames, a bar connecting the front end thereof, an auxiliary uide therefor, tilting lates pivoted to sai platen-frames,arotata le platenshaft carried by said tilting plates, and rods connecting said tilting plates at the back and at the lowerfront portions.

5. In a type-writing machine, the combination of a platen, a pivoted platen-shifting rail, -a pivoted lever coacting therewith, a pair of key-bars, means for connecting said lever and said key-bars for lifting the platen, automatic means coacting with one of said key-operated means for locking the parts and means coacting with the other for releasing said locking means.

6. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism consisting of a platen, means for carrying the same, means for rotating said the key-bar of the other link said locking and release arms being mounted on the same shaft.

7. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism consisting of a platen, means for carrying the same, means for shifting said platen consisting of a pivoted guide-rail, a shift-key bar, a pivoted lever for engaging said pivoted rail, a connecting-link between said lever and said key-bar, and means at the same time for moving said platen a less amount in another direction to correct variations in position of the printing-line.

8. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism consisting of a platen, means for carrying the same, means for shifting said platen consisting of a pivoted guide-rail, a shift-key bar, a pivoted lever for engaging said pivoted rail, a connecting-link between said lever and said key-bar, a locking-arm for engaging said link, and means at the same time for moving said platen a less amount in another direction to correct variations in position of the printing-line.

9. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism consisting of a platen, means for carrying the same, and. means for shifting said platen consisting of a pivoted guide-rail, shift-key bars, pivoted levers for engaging said pivoted rail, connecting-links between said levers and said key-bars, a locking-arm for one of said links, a release-arm cooperating with the key-bar of the other link said locking and release arms being mounted on the same shaft, and means at the same time for moving said platen a less amount in another direction to correct variations in position of the printing-line.

10. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism comprising a carria e-frame, a platen-frame pivoted thereto, ti ting plates pivoted to said platen-frame, a platen carried by said tilting plates, means for lifting said platen, consisting of a pivoted guiderail, a shift-key bar, a pivoted lever for engaging said pivotedrail, a connecting-link between said lever and said key-bar.

11. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism comprising a carria e-frame, a platen-frame ivoted thereto, ti ting plates pivoted to sald platen-frame, a platen carried by said tilting plates, means for lifting said platen, consisting of a ivoted guiderail, a shift-key bar, a pivoted ever for engaging said pivoted rail, a connecting-link between said lever and. said key-bar, and a lockin -arm for engaging said link.

12. n a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism comprising a carriage-frame, a

platen-frame pivoted thereto, tilting plates 1 pivoted to said platen-frame, a platen carried by said tilting plates, means for lifting said platen consisting of a pivoted guiderail, shift-key bars, pivoted levers for engaging said pivoted rail, connecting-links between said levers and said keybars, a locking-arm for one of said links, a release-arm cooperatin with the key-bar of the other link said locking and release arms being mounted on the same shaft.

13. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism consisting of a platen, means for carrying the same, means for rotating said platen, a guide-rail for said carrying means, supporting-plates for said guide-rail said lates being slotted to permit of extensible adjustment.

14. A type-writer carriage construction including carriage-frames, platen-frames pivoted thereto, a rear guide-rail for said carriage-frames, a front guide-rail for said carriage-frames, extensible supporting-plates for removably supporting said rear guide-rail, and means for securing said plates in position.

15. A type-writer carriage construction including carriage-frames, a bar connecting them at the rear, a guide-sleeve carried by said bar, a main rear guide-rail coacting with said sleeve, means for removably mounting said guide-rail, platen-carrying frames pivoted to said carriage-frames, a front guide rail for said carriage-frames, a rod connecting said platen-frames, a platen revolubly carried by said platen-frames, and an auxiliary guide-roller carried by said rod below said platen.

'16. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism comprising a carria e-frame, a platen-frame pivoted thereto, ti ting plates pivoted to sald platen-frame, a platen carried by said tilting plates, means for lifting said platen, a guide-rail for said carriagerack, supporting-plates for said guide-rail said plates being'slotted to permit of extensible adjustment.

17. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism comprising a carria e-frame, a platen-frame pivoted thereto, tilting plates pivoted to said platen-frame, a platen carried by said tilting plates, means for lifting said platen, a guide-rail for said carriagerack, a guide-sleeve engaging therewith said guide-sleeve carrying a pivoted lever, means carried by said lever for contacting with said guide-rail.

18. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism comprising a carria e-frame, a platen-frame pivoted thereto, ti ting plates pivoted to said platen-frame, a platen carried by said tilting plates, means for lifting said platen, a guide-rail for said carriagerack, a guide-sleeve engaging therewith said guide-sleeve carrying a pivoted lever, a

roller carried by said lever for contacting with said guide-rail, and'means for adjusting the pressure of said roller.

19. In a type-writing machine, a carriage mechanism consisting of a platen, means for carrying the same, means for rotating said platen, a guide-rail for said carrying means, supporting-plates for said guide-rail said plates being slotted to permit of extensible adjustment, and means for shifting said platen. 20. A carriage mechanism for type-writing machines, consisting of a platen, a carriage therefor,means for rotatin said platen, a front and a rear guide-rail %or said carriage, means for moving said carriage longitudinally, cylindrical guide-rollers for the front rail of said carriage, said guide-rollers bein mounted one above and one below said railfand means for lifting the platen, said front rail resting on the lower roller except when lifted when it contacts with the upper roller.

21-. A carriage mechanism for typewriting machines, consisting of a platen, a carriage therefor, means for rotating said platen, a front and a rear guide-rail for said carriage, means for moving said carriage longitudi nally, cylindrical guide-rollers for the front rail of said carriage, said guide-rollers being mounted one above and one below said rail, a sleeve carried by said carriage for engaging said rear guide-rail, said sleeve having adjustable pressure-rollers.

22. A carriage mechanism for-type-writing machines, consisting of a platen, a carriage therefor, means for rotating said platen, a front and a rearguide-rail for said carriage, means for moving said carriage longitudinally, cylindrical guide-rollers for the front rail of said carriage, said guide-rollers being mounted one above and one below said rail, an auxiliary guide-rail for said carriageand means for lifting the-same.

23. A carriage mechanism for type-writing machines, consisting of a platen, a carriage therefor, means for rotating said platen, a front and a rear guide-rail for said carriage, means for moving said carriage longitudinally, cylindrical guide-rollers for the front rail of said carriage, said guide-rollers being mounted one above and one below said rail, an auxiliary ide-rail for said carriage an means for lifting the same consisting of shiftkeys with suitable connecting-levers.-

24. In a type-writing machine, a carriage, a platen mounted on the carriage, and vertically movable relatively thereto, a latenshifting rail, a ivoted lever connectecftherewith, a pair of ey-bars, connections between said key-bars and said pivoted lever, means for automatically locking the parts with the platen in an elevated position when one of the key-bars is depressed-and meansoperated by the depression of the other key-bar for releasing said locking means.

act with the front guide-rail, a platen carried by said carriage and vertically movable relatively thereto, an auxiliary guide-rail for said platen and key-operable means for lifting said platen through the medium of said guiderail, the weight of the carriage at the front normally resting upon one of said rollers, the other roller being adapted to be brought into operation only When the platen is lifted.

JESSE ALEXANDER. Witnesses:

L. VREELAND, ROBT. S. ALLYN. 

